The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-10-07
THE MARRIED scoLD.

THE MARRIED SCOLD.
Women who wantonly Wreck the Happl-
pIness of Their Families.
Fly! fy! unknit that threatening, unlsind brow
It blots thy beauty as frosts bite the meads. .
Confounds thy fame as whirlwnds shake their
heads,
And in no sense is meet or amiable.''
Shakespeare.
This old-time philosophy, which the
famous poet used in his Tanning OF
the Shrew." is as apt for our day as for
the century in which it was written.
Indeed, many sorrowing husband re-
cognizes the picture while despairing
of finding cure, as did Petruchio. No
home can supply the true meaning Of
the word. No husband can fulfill the
promise of his manhood who owns a
scold for a wife. A man who is always
watching the skies for the signs of a
tempest is in no condition to do effec-
tive service of any sort Such man
has his manners spoiled (for he can
never seem at easel, his business
capacity weakened and his peace OF
mind destroyed.
There are few women who could be
so heartless as to deliberately ruin a
husband in this way. And it is gem
orally accomplished through blindness
to facts. The husband gives up his
strength and resistance to wrongs grad
ually. until. before an observing COM
munity, he is rendered slave. You
can see the signs of this slavery in his
furtive glances. in the hopeless ex.
preston he wears. in his very steps.
AS there are signs that reveal the VIC
tim of scold, so there are marks up
on the face of a scold that betray her
nature. Sometimes in viewing such a
face you find yourself tracing cause
from effect, wondering if the regular
features were not once beautiful; won.
dering also what was the initiative
step toward being scold.
There was such step, and this is
why this article is written-to lift q
warning voice to those who may be
about to take ito save. if possible,
some young wife, who, using hel
woman's power and privilege Alright,
may become a queen in her realm. A
thoughtless habit may hold the seedi
of gigantic mischief in the direction Of
becoming a scold. A little indulgence
in peevishness, small selfish exactiop
of another's time or attention, may
hold the germ which shall at last de.
spoil the home. Gradually the attrac.
tive face will change. the beautiful
mouth will become distorted, the ex.
preston of trust will give way to one
of suspicion, and the husband, who wa.
won by gentleness and sweetness, is
bcwildered at the truth that is forced
upon his senses. He perhaps doubts
those senses at first but years of suffer.
ing convince him that he has cast hi.
lot with scold.
We need among our women the
adsptsbility to the changing cir
cnmstances of life. for such changes
are liable to come to all. The old
fashioned words of more than one
mother to her daughter, make the
very best of every thing" are like
"apples of gold in pictures of silver"
in their worth and wisdom. and follow
ing their spirit. many wife has proved
treasure, and many home little
Heaven.
We have all heard the story which
one of our modern poets has cmpha-
sized and adorned by his verse, of a
man who laid wager with regard to
his wife's equable temper, and the
other man. whose experience, it would
be judged, had been of different sort
from that of his friend, told him that if
she were tried with crooked wood her
even temper would give way to fault
finding. The wager being laid. the
owner of the pleasant wife purchased a
load of gnarled branches, and awaited.
not without misgivings, the result
Days and weeks passed, and still the
home fires burned undimned, and the
home tables were loaded with the good
things from housewifely arts At last
the wood was nearly gone. and when
the husband spoke of getting some
more the wife urged: ''Do get some
more crooked sticks; they lie 80 nicely
around the pot"
It is the power of making the best
of things which this illustrates that
will insure . woman against becoming
a scold. and make her n help and .
blessing to the world.-CAristian At
Work.